Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Failing To Impress

I was recently interviewed for a Feeney Fellowship,
following a proposal I made in response to a call for applicants. The
Fellowship awards two bursaries a year of up to £3000 to Birmingham based arts
practitioners to, as outlined on their website, ‘broaden their expertise and
develop their careers…the proposal should allow exposure to new, outside
influences…rather than simply giving the applicant time to develop a new body
of work’.

My proposal was centred on an interest I’ve had for
some time in developing some sculptural ceramics based on my interest in the
urban environment, and in particular based on the recent lorry and vehicle
paintings. The idea of the trucks as ‘vessels’ or containers seemed to
naturally lend itself to this idea and, for the proposal at least, seemed like
a good opportunity to potentially extend my practise and skills. I know plenty
of ceramicists whose work I admire, and have very much been a part in fostering
my interest in this art form, who were happy to support me in my endeavours
with their knowledge and expertise, and, most importantly, their kilns (!).

Anyway, this is all a bit circumspect as, following my
interview, I was unsuccessful in the end, and did not receive a bursary. For
the interview I had to give a brief presentation in support of my proposal. I
decided it would be a different approach to develop and present a sketchbook of
possible design ideas, and so during the time I have been signed off work I
spent a few days working on this. I made nearly eighty studies over thirty
pages, which I enjoyed a great deal: making initial drawings from my son’s toy
trucks and then developing ideas about different surface treatments using paint
and collage. As I said, it’s all a bit circumspect now, but I thought it might
be nice to share some of these in this post.

Road Mending Machine Teapot!

My good friend, Marian, who acted as a referee, was
very disappointed I was turned down and wondered if her reference had not been,
in her words, ‘sophisticated enough’. I am certain that this would not have
been the case, but rather more likely to be the lack of sophistication in my
ideas that would have been the problem. I think also that it may be that it
looked, and probably correctly, like I would be producing a whole new body of
work, rather than extending my existing practise. I will never know….Still,
despite this I do think some of the designs have potential to be carried
further, and maybe, without the pressure the Fellowship would have undoubtedly
brought, I could attempt something in clay yet in the New Year.